Society's Child

Texas mayor resigns after telling people it was their own fault they froze when power went out in deadly winter storm

Sinéad Baker
Insider.com
Wed, 17 Feb 2021 22:26 UTC

A Texas mayor resigned after saying it was people's own fault if they froze in the deadly storm.
Mayor Tim Boyd of Colorado City said not to expect help and "Only the strong will survive."
The storm has been blamed for more than 20 deaths and has cut off power to millions.
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The mayor of a Texas city resigned after telling people it was their own fault if they were suffering from the vast loss of electricity in the state this week amid a historic cold snap.

Tim Boyd, the mayor of Colorado City, accused his constituents of looking for a "handout" as power went out across the state. He encouraged residents with no water to "think outside the box to survive."

Comment: If only that were the official position for The Covid...

Of course, when it comes to real natural disasters, authorities couldn't give a sh*t about people.

The outburst came in a since-deleted Facebook post that included numerous misspellings.

It said: "No one owes you are your family anything; nor is it the local government's responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink or swim, it's your choice!"

He said later in the post: "I'm sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout! If you don't have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe.

"If you have no water you deal without and think outside the box to survive and supply water to your family.

"If you are sitting at home in the cold because you have no power and are sitting there waiting for someone to come rescue you because you're lazy is direct result of your raising.

"Only the strong will survive and the weak will parish."

Here is the full post:

At least 20 people had died in connection to the storms as of early Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

Boyd resigned Tuesday. According to Fox News, he said in a Facebook post: "I would never want to hurt the elderly or anyone that is in true need of help to be left to fend for themselves.

"I was only making the statement that those folks that are too lazy to get up and fend for themselves but are capable should not be dealt a handout. I apologize for the wording and some of the phrases that were used!"

Freezing temperatures across many US states have left people battling ice and snow and have caused severe power outages.

Texas is seeing some of its coldest temperatures in more than 30 years, the BBC reported.

Millions of homes and businesses in Texas were without power Tuesday.

Some of the deaths were directly linked to efforts to try to get warm. The Houston police said a woman and a girl died of carbon-monoxide poisoning after trying to use their car to generate heat.

Reader Comments

Rowan Cocoan · 2021-02-17T23:18:02Z

The 'outburst'?* Sounds more like something a caring father would say to his children in a letter written when he was at sea trying to help them get through it tough times, and instead they send it to their school district to prove he's an arch child abuser and white supremacist simply because he believes that society should respect merit over whatever the fuck 'identity' means (this week.):

"I'm sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout! If you don't have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe.

And if that's an 'outburst' - well hopefully you'll count this as one, too.

(And as re his bad typos and bad spelling? Well my father wouldn't have won any spelling bees, I can guarantee you that; but he also was the best man I've ever known.)

I detect that his resignation was the equivalent of Trump's lawyer throwing down his microphone.

R.C.

As re this:

Some of the deaths were directly linked to efforts to try to get warm. The Houston police said a woman and a girl died of carbon-monoxide poisoning after trying to use their car to generate heat

Any bets that that was merely a Darwin award pair?

RC

Rowan Cocoan · 2021-02-17T23:27:49Z

Rowan Cocoan As re this:

Some of the deaths were directly linked to efforts to try to get warm. The Houston police said a woman and a girl died of carbon-monoxide poisoning after trying to use their car to generate heat.

Any bets that that was simply a Darwin award pair? Actually, I bet that his lack of compassion for idiots helped spur quite a few people to NOT die. We know he'll get no credit for that, just as we likewise know that the deaths of that surely genius and future neurosurgeon pair will be quietly labeled as? You know: Covid!

After all, even Jesus said 'You will always have the stupid among you.' (Or something like that.)

RC

klokman · 2021-02-18T00:07:40Z

Rowan Cocoan poor among you"

On the difference, I give you Denis Poirier’s Theorem:

Knowledge is Power.

Time is Money.

Power equals Work divided by Time.

Therefore Money equals Work divided by Knowledge.

Thus Money approaches infinity as Knowledge approaches zero.

Violá! Stupidity rules.

Thiamin · 2021-02-18T00:57:12Z

I dont like what the mayor said because when people actually try to survive on their own without the government by being off grid or growing their own food etc... What happens? The government send police officers with a black helicopter and throws them in jail. You cannot escape from the God damned government. Then when it fails to deliver on the services that they trade for our freedom... Then it is our fault.

Just like with the Covid hoax where the financial system is falling apart but instead of taking their responsibilities, they make up a whole bunch of restrictions on our freedom. I get angry when I think of this.

Eventide · 2021-02-18T01:47:00Z

Thiamin I agree with you. 'Blame the victim' is never anything but an ugly form of self-congratulation on the part of people who don't realize how many factors have come together to give them options others don't have.

ReRan · 2021-02-18T03:17:02Z

Thiamin You got it!

nedlud · 2021-02-18T08:51:36Z

AS THE CROW FLIES

@Thiamin:

That is exactly correct.

One of my great grandfathers was a Lutheran minister. This was during early years of the automobile. He eschewed walking the roads when he made his rounds, his social calls to his congregation. He took the more familiar and pleasant (to him) game trails, ie., the routes established by wild animals. He was a very vigorous man, said to look much younger than his actual years.

He was hit and killed one day by a vehicle when he was crossing a newly made highway. He was in his late sixties.

What an idiot. His own fault. Good thing he died. Shoulda done what normal people were doing...

ned,

OUT

Bradly · 2021-02-18T05:13:59Z

The mayor is right.. anyone with a little common sense would've got up and started jogging on the spot.

I do it all the time and it works wonders.

LindaMay · 2021-02-19T01:47:15Z

Bradly too heavy🙊

Isnt that self-insulation?!🙈

Bradly · 2021-02-19T02:43:42Z

LindaMay

Isnt that self-insulation?

No... it's mockery

LindaMay · 2021-02-19T13:52:16Z

Bradly i hear you

But it is actually called LOVE for the one who hates on him/herself.

Just not obvious in our neurotic society's civilized minds.... i get that too.

aka... in order to get so warped and out of shape takes a whole hell of a lot self-hatred and hard work at that. Makes me sick.

Neizvestno · 2021-02-18T05:59:06Z

There is an age at which, it's not really your fault if your parents didn't teach you how to take care of yourself, eventually you should have figured shit out for yourself, but I think young adults ought to get a pass on not know anything about anything these days. There's a whole generation out there who've never boiled their own egg, and they don't have the confidence to try it. Eventually that's on them, but if you get to be an adult with having boiled an egg, I'm not sure telling you you deserve to die is really the best start at remedying that. And what of the elderly,and disabled. It's also pretty fucking hard to prepare for anything when you're hanging onto the poverty line...

Lots of people should be able to handle it and take care of their families, but things like this do assume everyone has enough to start with, has a family, lives in a decent building, isn't alone, elderly, disabled, isn't young and raised by people who trusted the state to raise them, like they are told to...

sbc · 2021-02-18T11:19:13Z

The mayor dude is 100% correct.

This coming from a senior city council member. Me.

Fuck people who don't want to or are too completely ignorant to last a couple days with no power.

Americunts.

Rowan Cocoan · 2021-02-18T11:36:04Z

sbc They're claiming they're worrying about water when there's x feet of snow on the ground. Don't want these fucks in my foxhole. (Of course, I'll be kind enough to warn before any harm. )

You said elsewhere just now that you're good with a blade - I know I'm not, but I'd give two to one (actually way better) odds that you have multiple super sharp knives retrievable within 10 seconds. (I've got the good knife here that I cut dinner with - and other stuff within that 10 seconds.)

RC

Eventide · 2021-02-19T01:26:02Z

You guys have no idea what it's like to live day to day and not know where you're next meal is coming from. Sure, it's possible to plan ahead. It's even possible - theoretically, at least - for people you're looking down your noses at to plan ahead. People have dreams. But to turn them into plans? How are they to do that? How does that fit into their reality - the 'shit happens' reality of life without dignity or resources? How are they to know the value of planning, let alone how to do it? Where are their role models for that sort of orientation?

Like I said, you have no idea what advantages you have been handed in order to be able to lead lives that aren't entirely constrained by the need to get from here to there, find a bit of enjoyment once in awhile, figure out where the next handout is coming from, and just survive.

Rowan Cocoan · 2021-02-19T01:39:48Z

lsjarvi My dear, this:

You guys have no idea what it's like to live day to day and not know where you're next meal is coming from.

is an overstatement! As to me - I know what it's like to be homeless and hungry, and I'd bet that there are other SOTTites to whom such applies.

RC

Eventide · 2021-02-19T01:45:19Z

Rowan Cocoan Yes, but did you have experiences to draw on that led you to believe that you could escape that situation? I would bet that you did.

LindaMay · 2021-02-19T01:51:09Z

Rowan Cocoan yas.

And no one is a victim 2000 years after the death of Christ!!!!

Time has run out to think n plan. Getting healthy is our only chance if one wants a 'chance'

I guess one can say that procrastination sucks.

Rowan Cocoan · 2021-02-19T01:51:54Z

lsjarvi Good point. But having that experience helped make me who I am - indeed, was a part of who I still am and always have been. I guess I could have been seeking 'help' but it wouldn't didn't exist and if it did, I didn't want it. Granted, being brought up to be tough and in charge of myself at an age that nowadays would have gotten my fantastic parents prosecuted for simply refusing to lock us down made us, especially, me and my brother, all that much better prepared for life..

Of course, the issue isn't this, and I have no great desire to discuss it here. (I will say, see the AB! )

RC

I do top maintenance on my older vehicle for as long as I can. Fk'em.

Demore

...do the Amish take in refugees of tech tyranny ? ;)

Shangri

:O What is it that is affecting people's brains these days?

ReRan

''...containing fake images of myself superimposed on other people,...'' Where ? Some of them have to be funny.

Demore

Nothing new in that article.

Demore

Society's Child

Texas mayor resigns after telling people it was their own fault they froze when power went out in deadly winter storm

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